Dec. 10, 2004

With both a long memory and keen eye on the remainder of its season, the Harvard hockey team hosts Maine on Saturday night at the Bright Hockey Center. With Harvard looking to improve its four-game winning streak, for another win against a ranked team, and perhaps to exact a measure of revenge for a heartbreaking loss in last year's NCAA's... there is no denying its another high-emotion game for Ted Donato's squad.

Download Game Notes

A long-dormant rivalry between Harvard and Maine has been renewed over the last three seasons, and one can expect nothing less than the drama and emotion those meetings have brought to the table. The Crimson had not faced off against the Black Bears since 1994 (and before that, 1984) when it drew Maine in the 2002 NCAA Tournament, but the two teams have met annually since, allowing Maine to gain a slight edge in the all-time series, 5-4.

Each of the recent meetings in this renewed rivalry have been one-goal affairs in favor of Maine, and each had a distinctly different feel: a young Crimson squad was able to take a small measure of pride in taking the eventual NCAA finalists to overtime in 2002. In 2003, the teams had a regular-season meeting which took place at a neutral site (Portland), and the Black Bears took a 3-0 lead before a Crimson rally fell short in a 4-3 loss. In last year's NCAA's, Harvard held a 4-1 lead in the second intermission, and saw Maine put together a dramatic four-goal third period to take a 5-4 win, then eventually advance to the National Championship game.

Here's a quick look at the top notes headed into the weekend:

• Harvard has won four straight and eight of its last nine. The last time a Harvard team won eight of nine regular-season games was in the 1993-94 season, when assistant coach Sean McCann captained the Crimson.

• Harvard owns a 4-5-0 record all-time against the Black Bears, which includes three straight losses, all by a goal.

• The Crimson is a perfect 6-0 in games at the Bright Hockey Center this season, and has won nine in a row overall. Vermont was the last team to defeat the Crimson on its home ice (last February 27), but three of those nine straight home-ice victories have come against the Catamounts.

• Harvard's power play was held off the board for the first time in ten games last Tuesday, as UVM held Harvard scoreless in six extra-man opportunities. The pp unit still ranks fourth in the country with a 23.2% success rate (15-of-65).

• The penalty kill has continued to be a strong point as well. The Crimson kept its opponents off the board in 11 of its last 12 chances over three games, and is at 82.5% (52-of-63) for the season. Also helping is that the Crimson is the least penalized team in the country (13.1 PIM/game).

• Senior Tom Cavanagh is the second leading scorer in the ECAC (and ranks tenth nationally) with 1.42 points per game. He also ranks 13th in the league in assists per game (0.92). He has a hand in more than half of the 33 goals scored this season (17 points), which includes either scoring or assisting on five of the eight game-winning goals.

• Noah Welch has seven points - all on the power play - to rank fifth on the team overall in scoring, and has been nothing short of impressive in all three zones. Both he and Cavanagh deserve to be mentioned among early candidates for All-American honors and perhaps find their name on the Hobey Baker watch list as well.

• Senior netminder Dov Grumet-Morris became just the second Harvard goaltender to win 50 career games. Grumet-Morris moved into a second-place tie in the Harvard record books with Bruce Durno '71 when he picked up his 49th career victory in Friday's 4-1 victory over Union, and took over second all alone behind Grant Blair '86 in the annals.

• The sophomore class had a fantastic series against RPI and Union. The all-sophomore line of Ryan Maki, Kevin Du, and Steve Mandes had a combined eight points in the Crimson sweep last weekend. Add in sophomore blueliner Dylan Reese, who leads the class in scoring with six points (and has shown what the Crimson missed when he had to sit 15 games last season with injury). The newest addition to the class, transfer netminder Justin Tobe, has turned in a pair of excellent performances in the last two weekends, and boasts a 1.50 GAA and .945 save percentage in his wins over Clarkson and Rensselaer.

• While the all-sophomore third line made headlines over last weekend, it was the fourth line playing the role of heroes in Tuesday's big win over red-hot Vermont. Dan Murphy had his second multiple-point weekend of the season and Tyler Magura scored his first collegiate tally in the 3-1 victory.

• Nearly an entire section of Murphys will be on hand tonight with split loyalties. Dan's older brother, Ben, is a senior for the Black Bears. He has missed several games with injury, but hopefully will be in the lineup. It would be just the second time the two would play an organized game against one another.

• Brendan Bernakevitch returned to the lineup after a three-game absence and improved his team- and career-best seven-game point scoring streak to seven games with a goal against Vermont. The "TCB line" of freshman Mike Taylor, Cavanagh, and Bernakevitch was reunited after a three-game hiatus during Bernakevitch's injury.